1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an article or assembly for use in creating artificial dentures, and more particularly of the type that the dental profession may adapt to the patient's mouth at a single sitting if desired.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are many people who have lost their natural teeth and who, for economic and other reasons, are unable to obtain prosthetic or artificial denture replacements through the services of professional dentistry. It has been appreciated in the prior art that the time and costs associated with providing a set of dentures to a patieht could be substantially reduced if a portion of the artificial or prosthetic denture was previously manufactured and the final fitting to the patient's mouth took place during one or two dental visits. By providing to the dental profession an article that has been previously manufactured on a mass production basis, and that only requires a final fitting to a respective patient, the advantages and cost savings of a mass produced product can be passed along to the patient.
One form of prior art device is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,727,309, issued to Elbert P. Huey, and discloses a denture having certain characteristics to permit the dentist or other trained technician to perform certain adjustments while the denture is situated within the oral cavity of the prospective denture user. Huey appreciates that an assembly having a rigid structure to support the teeth and a flexible portion which could be deformed by finger pressure would permit the necessary adjustment to the curvature or configuration of the edentulus ridge in the maxillary area of the patient's mouth, for example.
The present inventor has found that the chemical composition selected in accordance with the teachings of U.S. Pat. No. 3,727,309 are such that resilient material utilized in the palatal vault area, for example, is readily softened upon exposure to temperatures that may occur in the mouth of the wearer of the dentures. This creates a problem in that if hot coffee is consumed, which may have a temperature to exceed 150.degree. F., then there is a movement and there is a geometry change of the previously set palatal area of the maxillary denture.
The present inventor has discovered that by the utilization of certain chemical positions it is possible to form a frame assembly having integrally joined portions, one of which always remains rigid and the other upon adjustment thereafter remains substantially rigid even when the wearer is consuming liquids of approximately 150.degree. F. This feature provides a major advantage in the denture art over the device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,727,309.
Another form of prosthetic denture is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,839,796, issued to James M. Hazar, and discloses a denture to be individually fitted to the patient's mouth with a minimum of time involvement by the dentist. The present inventor has found that substantial improvement is obtained over the invention disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,839,796 by providing a palatal vault member which when brought into conformable relationship with the palatal vault of the patient remains set in its selected position even when subsequently exposed to conventional elevated temperatures.
In the Hazar patent a palatal member is initially pressure molded having a specific configuration. This configuration is subsequently reheated by the dentist or other licensed denture delivery person, to remold the palatal member to conform to the palatal portion of the patient being fitted with dentures. It has been found that the palatal vault member manufactured in accordance with the teachings of U.S. Pat. No. 3,839,796 has a memory to it such that when subsequently subjected to heated liquid above 150.degree. F., there is a softening thereof. Hot coffee can exceed 150.degree. F. Accordingly, upon this reheating, the palatal vault member desires to return to its original configuration, and this has proven to be a drawback to the denture disclosed in Hazar U.S. Pat. No. 3,839,796.
The present invention should not be confused with the disclosure in U.S. Pat. No. 2,685,133, issued to B. N. Greene et al, in which the inventors' desire to provide a system wherein the individual who is remote from a dentist may perform those steps necessary to obtain the impression required to manufacture the dentures.
The present invention is adapted to provide the dentist with a greater degree of flexibility in producing a denture for the patient, and the various advantages and distinctions of my invention over the prior art will become more clearly evident as the disclosure proceeds.
In addition, up to the present invention the method and apparatus of manufacturing prosthetic devices to form artificial dentures have essentially been along conventional lines as that associated with dental laboratory procedures well known in the art. These procedures have been most satisfactory when producing individual sets of customized dentures, but they are not economically feasible for large production runs. The present invention also sets forth a method and apparatus for manufacturing large production runs of denture assemblies in an efficient and economical manner.